While the drudgery of losing an hour of sleep this weekend to Daylight Savings Time looms in the air, why not put a positive spin on the time change and use its arrival as a semiannual signal to refresh your home for the new season? Let our Daylight Savings Checklist be your guide and give those often overlooked areas of the home some seasonal TLC this weekend!
Daylight Savings Checklist:
- Show your pantry tough love. Ditch any expired or stale items and take a mental inventory of your stock. Reorganize the shelves and move items that are near their expiration date to the front for easy access. You might be surprised how much you’ll save on your next grocery bill with items hiding in your own kitchen!
- Check the medicine cabinet. Take a moment to sort through all medications and discard any that are expired or discolored. Search FDA.gov for safe recommendations for disposing of medication.
- Ensure a good night’s sleep. Flip and rotate your mattress for even wear (or simply rotate if you have a no flip mattress). While this should be done throughout the year, chances are it doesn’t happen as often as it should, so take today and check it off the list!
- Change the filters. This one is another household task that should be done more often than it typically is, so go ahead and be sure it happens now! Your energy bills will thank you!
- Swap your style. Even if you’re one of the lucky ones with enough space to keep your wardrobe out year round, chances are you could still benefit from a little fashion inventory. Take note of the styles in your stock for the upcoming season, pack up anything you no longer wear to donate or sell and inspect last season’s staples for those that need cleaning or repairs.
- Be smart about safety. Replace the batteries in your smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector. While you’re at it, protect any loved ones that might not be able to do this themselves, such as an elderly relatives. If you don’t live near them, some fire departments offer programs to help.
- Love your rugs (and the floor underneath). As you already know, regular vacuuming will maintain the beauty and life of your rug. But we often forget the flooring underneath. Daylight Savings is a great time to give your whole house a clean sweep, so don’t forget to get under those rugs too.
- Clean the curtains. This goes for the shower curtain too! Whisk all drapery (that is machine washable) down and toss into the wash to refresh the fabric and remove months of dust and dirt hiding in their fibers. Yuck!
- Shake it off! While this is another tip that should be done more than twice a year, be sure to check this quickie off your list today and take all scatter rugs outside to shake out. Don’t forget to shake your doormats off too!
- Flip the couch. While maybe tempting at the end of your cleaning craze, we don’t mean this one literally! Instead, take out all the couch cushions that are removable and vacuum both sides and inside the actual couch. Then, flip the cushions so the previously unexposed side is now face up. And consider any coins you find hidden under the cushions a tip for a hard day’s work… how generous!
Anything we missed?
Let us know any seasonal housekeeping rituals of your own. We’d love to hear from you!
